New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-04-03
CARLYLE AND GOETHE.
GENIAL. CORRESPONDENCE.
roRREsPoNDENCE BETWEEN GOETHE AND D. ca "A

The publication IN fuIl OF TINS remarkable Settles
Of letters Is by far the pleasantcst of recent con-
trbutions to the Carlyle literature IL must be con-
fessed that at every new book about Carlyle
great many people are beginning to throw up their
hands and cry "what! more 7" But here is sub
.tantial addition TO the philosophers biography
which everybody who cares at all Tor the
subiect will value for the strong light
IL throws upon the most attractive side OF
Carlyie's character He Is represented here IN the
fuI DOS sson of all the domestic and MINOR virtues
of which his later life seemed bare He is loving,
sympathetic appreciative, and reverent; we
can almost call him gentle, docie. and
difident. He has not only profound
and aIectionate respect for Goethe. but under the
benign Influence of this hero worship he softens
toward all the world He has criticisms to pass
upon his contemporaries, particularly upon those
who busted themselves with German literature. but
while his judgments are sufficiently acute and pre-
else. they are pronounced with good temper and
sweetened with many praises. This is not the
Scotch Thersites whose ratings we have heard so
long but a generous disciple full of high enthus'-
asms and delghting iii little amenities.
ItlsimpossibIe not to speculate upon the differ
ence " hich the Goethe influence might have made
in CARLYLE if it had been continued few years
later. 1t was so strong and in most respects so
wholesome an influence that even the rugged and
obstinate nature of the philosopher must have been
deeply and happily modified by II. But
unfortunately it came too early. The
friendship lasted seven eight years, and was
broken by Goethes death just when it would have
been most useful Carlyle still writing for the re-
views and little known in his country, was not
vet OF ven over to selhshuess and dyspepsia; he was
held mp by youth and hope, and in his laoorious
poverty at Edinburgh and Cra'genputtock he 1eit
more of satisfaction in his work than he was ever
TO feel in the time of his celebrity. The appreca-
ton of Goethe at this period was mighty stimulus
IL his intellectual powers and a balm to his sore
temper while the placid and lofty spirit of the old
poet seemed to fill the hard and unlovely house
hold with some thing like content. Carlyle began
the correspondence In 1924 by sending to Weimar
a copy of his translation of "Wihelm Meisters
Apprenticeship" with letter in which he says:
Four wears ago when read vour Faust" among
the noun tains OF my native Scotland, could not
but fancy | might one day see you ana pour OUT
before you as before q Father. the woes ana wan
derings of a heart whose mysteries yOn seemed 80
thoroughly to com; rehend and could so Deautiiully
represent The hope OF meeting yon Is sun among
my dreams. MANY saints have been explnged from
nv literary Calendar since first knew you; but
yonI name still stands there, i'll characters more
bright than ever mat your IRE may oe io ts ond
future generations. is the earnest prayer OF, ST.
your most devoted servant, THOMAS CARLYLE
Goethe returned a kind answer, but the cor
respondence thendropped until, after lapse of
moro than two years, Carlyle wrote aga n. sending
his Life of Schiller" and some other publications,
and renewing the EXPIRE Ssion or his Obligations
eff have been delivered he saws " from dark
ness into any measure of light. if know aught of
myself and my duties and destination, 1t IS to the
study of your writings more than to any other cir
cumstance that owe this; it Is yOu more than
any other man that should always thank and
reverence with the feeling of disciple to his mas
ter nav of son to his spiritual father" The re-
sponse to this fervent and sincere tliblte was ex-
tremely cordial, and the correspondence Mt once
assumed the character OF a free interchange OF
Thought and affection between sympathetic
friends in which the disparity OF years and
fame and position IS hardly remeH-
bered Goethe exposes at some length his theory OF
q universal spiritual commerce of nations by means
of their literature, an exchange in which every
translator is to be regarded as middleman; and
CARLYLE seizing the idea with ayidity. restates 1t
with n force and clearness IN which tho original
expres,ion IS little deficient. He used the sugges-
ton afterward in his remarks upon "Worid-LAt-
erature" in his critical essay on "IayloTs survey
of German POETRY The better minds OF all
countries" he says in that essay. begin to under
stand each other and which follows naturally, to
1--we each other and help each other by whom
ultimately all countries in all their proceedings are
governed All this is drawn from Ooethes letters
A little later we find Carlyle consulting the
poet about a proposed " History OF German
literature undertaken for London book
seller. but never finished. He draws up an inter-
estipg sketch of the scope and divisions of the
work. and Goethe entirely approves of the plan,
oderinc a few suggestions as TO details and author
tiles All this labor of criticism exposition ana
translation belongs to the great serene OF inter-
national literary commerce upon which both cor
respondents placed so much importance, and which
forms in more or less direct ways the subject OF so
MANY of their letters Remarking that Professor
Molr's trains alton OF SchilIer's "Walens'en" has
given him new interest ID the original Ooethe
adds the following curious reelection:
And here occurs to me q new observation. per-
hops scarcely thought OF, perhaps never before e1
pressed that the translator works not alone LOT his
own nation, but likewise for the one from whose
language he has taken the work. For u happens
oftgner than one apt TO suppose 'oa ar hat aUd
absorbs il into its own inner life. so as to have no
further pleasure in il and to draw no more nours-
ment from IT. This is especially the case with the
Cerman people who consume far too quickly what
ever is offered them, and while Transforming IL by
various reworkings, they in a sense annihliato II.
Therefore 1t is very sautary II what was thef own
shoud after a time by means OF a successful trans
IatiOn. reappear to them endowed with fresh iiie'
The interest Of the Goethe letters, however Is not
so much literary as personal. The comments upon
hooks and authors are brief: the old mans
pen runs freely only in expressions OF sym-
pathy and attachment. Almost every letter is
accompanied by a keepsake There was contIn'
mons exchange of presents between Craigenpnttock
and Weimar, and as we watch the unpacking of the
boxes we can imagine without much effort the de-
light that must have filed the little Scotch cottage
Mt these periodical arrivals. There were books,
verses. drawings. medals and innumerable other
tokens of friendly remembrance IN which the
women of tho two households had a pleasant share;
for Jane CARLYLE on the one hand, and Ottlie, the
wife of Goetbe's son. on the other. figure often in
the correspondence. and busy themselves in the
d,s,atch of gifts Greetings and blessings to the
aaar pnirn ito the dear pair of Hermts," so